Container handling through South Carolina’s ports, including Charleston, surged 10% higher in June to break 200k TEUs in a single month for the first time. However, that was primarily due to a 31% rise in empty container handling. Imports rose by just 5% despite a 20% surge in shipments from China. The imposition of 25% duties on Chinese exports (which accounted for 22% of Charleston’s inbound volumes) by the Trump administration after the section 301 review will likely trim traffic by top container-lines including Evergreen (15% of the total) and Maersk (13%). Charleston also f...